Chapter 898: The Annual Rings of the Earth Mother
From within the flower, the stone coffin hanging down carried the voice of Earth Mother Yuanjun. It was very weak, yet filled with intense indignation, as she said sharply: "You knew it was the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor who struck me down? You knew he was not dead?"
Qin Mu's expression remained calm, waiting for her to settle down.
Taking this opportunity, he carefully examined the stone coffin. It was the imperial coffin of the Northern Supreme Emperor, the Heavenly Emperor—he had seen it in the underground palace.
He wondered how the remnant soul of Earth Mother Yuanjun had managed to escape from the hands of the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor, and how she had found the imperial coffin.
When the catastrophe occurred, Heavenly Lord Hao had controlled the most powerful weapon and battled Earth Mother Yuanjun. Qin Mu had used Earth Mother's hand to severely wound that most powerful weapon, after which he had taken the opportunity to return to the Primordial Realm.
Later, he had been discovered by the divine and demonic armies of the Heavenly Court and caught in a siege, until the appearance of beings at the Imperial Throne level such as Qi Xiayu and the King of Darkness forced him to abandon his soul and let his elder brother Qin Fengqing return to the Netherworld.
After that, the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor had descended while controlling the most powerful weapon, plunging the Primordial Tree into the Primordial Realm. Only then did he learn that Earth Mother Yuanjun was dead.
As for what had happened in between, he did not know, but he could deduce that the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor had personally descended to the lower realm, forced Heavenly Lord Hao to retreat, and executed Earth Mother Yuanjun.
However, under such desperate circumstances, Earth Mother Yuanjun had still managed to escape with her remnant soul—that kind of skill truly earned his admiration.
Earth Mother had lost everything. The forces under her command were either dead or fled, and countless of her remaining followers and heavens had been breached, turned into slaves and prisoners.
Yet even so, Earth Mother still made him wary.
A centipede does not stiffen even when dead. As the most powerful ancient god born from the Primordial Capital, even if she only had a remnant soul left, she was still far beyond what he could contend with.
The stone coffin hanging from the flower was the imperial coffin of the Northern Supreme Emperor. He wondered if there was still a corpse of the Northern Supreme Emperor inside.
Earth Mother in the stone coffin finally calmed down, saying coldly: "Heavenly Lord Hao retreated, and then the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor, controlling the most powerful weapon of the Heavenly Court, struck me down mercilessly. The divine arts he used with that weapon were formidable, but killing me was not easy. In the end, he had to use the ultimate techniques of a Heavenly Emperor. Only then did I realize it was him!"
She became agitated again: "Heh heh, back then he reincarnated into the Primordial Realm and married that woman Jue Wuchen, but unexpectedly she was a member of the Heavenly Alliance. The Heavenly Alliance surrounded and killed him, and I just watched, without lifting a hand. Who would have thought he wasn't dead, that he was still alive! After he used his ultimate techniques, I recognized him—he came for revenge, revenge against me!"
"The Ancient God Heavenly Emperor's soul had not dispersed, and later he became one of the leaders of the Heavenly Alliance in the Heavenly Court. I only learned of this later."
Qin Mu stared at the stone coffin and said: "Earth Mother, you stopped me because you want me to revive you again? To be honest, I am no longer the Son of the Netherworld."
"But you are still the Ten-Thousand-Kalpa Indestructible Grand Mage."
Earth Mother Yuanjun's voice came from within the stone coffin: "Almost all ancient gods know your name, know that you possess the ability to revive ancient gods. The Ten-Thousand-Kalpa Indestructible Grand Mage is you, not the Son of the Netherworld. You still have the power to revive me!"
Qin Mu shook his head, unconsciously revealing the desolate aura of falling leaves in autumn wind—melancholy and detached, as if he had seen through the mortal world: "I have no soul and no spirit now, and no power to revive you. Blocking my path is useless. My life is short; I came out only to find a scenic place to bury myself."
Yan'er tilted her head to look at Qin Mu. The plump round bird raised a claw to wipe the corner of her beak, thinking to herself: "The young master lies without changing his expression—clearly this is not the work of a day or two."
Earth Mother Yuanjun fell silent. After a moment, the stone coffin opened.
Qin Mu's scalp went numb. Yan'er tilted her head to look at Qin Mu's neck and immediately saw the skin on the back of his neck bristling, goosebumps rising—clearly very tense.
But what surprised her was that despite how tense he was, his breath and blood flow did not change in the slightest. Clearly he had put in hard work to ensure he revealed no flaws.
"Who did the young master learn this from?" she wondered inwardly.
A mass of green light flowed within the stone coffin, like water, yet also like light, extremely gentle and warm.
That mass of green light did not fall into the river, but instead hovered within the stone coffin. Qin Mu could vaguely see a wisp of remnant soul soaking in purple light.
When the purple light appeared, Qin Mu immediately felt an incomparable aura of life rushing toward him, invigorating his spirit!
Even his soul seemed to be rejoicing, extremely excited.
"My true body is the Primordial Tree. When I was born, I took root in this kind of luminous liquid. I did not know its name, so I called it Primordial Chaos Origin Fluid."
Within the purple light vortex, Earth Mother's remnant soul seemed somewhat reluctant, saying: "The reason I was able to survive two great cataclysms of destruction is precisely because of the Primordial Chaos Origin Fluid. From ancient times to the present, much of the Primordial Chaos Origin Fluid has been consumed, and only this remains."
A single drop of Primordial Chaos Origin Fluid flew out from within the stone coffin. Purple light shone upon the river, where fish swam. Those fish leaped up from the river surface, extremely joyful. As soon as they leapt out of the water, they grew at a visible rate, becoming larger—before they even fell back into the water, they had grown more than ten times in size, becoming enormous creatures!
Suddenly, one large fish grew to several dozen zhang in length, and in that brief moment, demonic aura surged from within its body, thick and intense!
That demonic fish rode the demonic aura, charging toward the Primordial Chaos Origin Fluid. Before it even got close, it had grown to a hundred zhang in length, with long bone spikes growing from its body like spears. As it flew to the side of the fluid, it burst apart with a bang, flesh and blood splattering everywhere.
Other demonic fish on the river surface also burst apart one after another—an extremely bloody and terrifying scene!
Even the riverbanks of the Yong River emitted the aura of gods and demons. Those were the corpses of gods, demons, and dragons sunk in the river. Now those corpses were also rapidly mutating, reanimating, opening their eyes with green light shining from them, rising from the riverbed and charging toward the Primordial Chaos Origin Fluid!
For a time, this stretch of the Yong River was extremely lively.
Those divine corpses, demonic corpses, and dragon corpses did not even touch the Primordial Chaos Origin Fluid before their bodies grew to terrifying proportions, eventually crushing themselves to bursting!
A pungent stench filled the air above the river.
That single drop of Primordial Chaos Origin Fluid flew to Qin Mu's side. Dragon Qilin was the first to be unable to bear it—his body began to grow wildly, dragon claws stretching to six or seven zhang in length, scales becoming even larger and mirror-bright, mane also growing wildly, longer and longer!
Yan'er could still control herself, but her gaze was fixed tightly on the Primordial Chaos Origin Fluid, as if she desperately wanted to swallow that drop.
Qin Mu sealed all the pores on his body, desperately trying to control his flesh, but his blood, flesh, and bones were all growing wildly, and even his hair was growing at a frantic pace. Even with his mastery of the Art of Creation, he could not suppress it!
That drop of Primordial Chaos Origin Fluid flew into his brow, drilling into his Embryonic Divine Treasury. Though it was only a tiny drop, once inside his Embryonic Divine Treasury, it transformed into the size of a lake, purple light rippling, settling at the feet of his embryonic spirit.
Qin Mu immediately felt his embryonic spirit brimming with vitality. His soul was still very weak, but now it was rapidly growing by drawing energy from the Primordial Chaos Origin Fluid.
His primordial spirit rejoiced, greedily absorbing the power within the Primordial Chaos Origin Fluid. Qin Mu tried to activate the Overlord Three Elixirs Art, and the speed of his primordial spirit's growth became even more astonishing!
"The Primordial Chaos Origin Fluid can keep the soul from perishing. I used the fluid to protect my remnant soul. Heavenly Lord Mu, although you no longer have a soul, you can use the Primordial Chaos Origin Fluid to strengthen your spirit, making your spirit an indestructible primordial spirit!"
Earth Mother Yuanjun's remnant soul said: "In this way, you will not die from lacking a soul, and you will not need to find a scenic place to bury yourself."
Qin Mu's heart stirred slightly. He looked at the other Primordial Chaos Origin Fluid in the stone coffin and said: "Earth Mother, even so, I still do not have the power to revive you. My strength is too weak now. To be honest, I only have one-fifth of my original cultivation left."
Earth Mother Yuanjun was silent for a moment, then another drop of Primordial Chaos Origin Fluid flew out from the stone coffin, also flying into his Embryonic Divine Treasury, and she said: "This drop of Primordial Chaos Origin Fluid is for you to recover your cultivation."
Qin Mu sighed: "Earth Mother is still stingy. What good does recovering my cultivation do? I am no longer the Son of the Netherworld. Lord Earth and Lord Heaven have also abandoned me, feeling that I have no more use. My abilities are meager—they will not lend me their power. Without their power, I cannot revive you. Earth Mother might as well give me more fluid, so that my strength can match that of the Son of the Netherworld, making them feel I have use, so that I can borrow their power."
Earth Mother's remnant soul sneered: "It is not that I am unwilling, but that you simply cannot withstand the energy of the fluid. These two drops of Primordial Chaos Origin Fluid already exceed the limits of your Embryonic Divine Treasury. These two drops will take you decades, even a hundred years, to digest! If I gave you more, your Embryonic Divine Treasury would not be able to seal it. If the power of the fluid seeped into your blood vessels, a single wisp of its aura would be enough to make you explode!"
Qin Mu did indeed feel that his Embryonic Divine Treasury was showing signs of being unable to bear it. If there were one more drop, the energy of the fluid would burst through the space of his Embryonic Divine Treasury and seep into his body.
The aura of this fluid could burst even gods and demons apart—let alone him.
"Then..."
Qin Mu turned his palm over, his five fingers holding four small jade bottles, and poured out the dragon saliva inside: "Can it be stored in bottles?"
Earth Mother fell silent again. After a moment, her voice came from the stone coffin: "Your little bottles cannot withstand it."
Qin Mu's hands flew rapidly, imprinting countless runes onto the jade bottles, saying: "What about these seals?"
"No."
Qin Mu applied dozens more layers of seals, showing a look of hope: "And now?"
"No!"
Qin Mu was troubled. He turned to look at Yan'er, who immediately used her magical power to apply a Green Dragon Seal on the surface of the bottle—a green dragon coiled around the jade bottle—and then applied a Vermilion Bird Seal at the mouth of the bottle.
Qin Mu said hopefully: "What about now?"
Earth Mother fell silent once more. After a long while, she said: "One bottle."
Qin Mu was disappointed and was about to speak when Earth Mother said coldly: "One bottle, no bargaining!"
Qin Mu had no choice but to use his primordial energy to control one jade bottle, flying it into the coffin. The jade bottle was filled with Primordial Chaos Origin Fluid and flew out. Qin Mu quickly collected it and carefully put it away.
"How long do you need to recover to your peak state?" Earth Mother asked.
Qin Mu said: "About a hundred years."
Suddenly, a roar came from within the imperial coffin. From the darkness behind the Primordial Chaos Origin Fluid, a majestic imperial corpse walked out, roaring incessantly.
"At the very least, ten years!" Qin Mu said decisively.
That imperial corpse of the Supreme Emperor stared at him coldly. Earth Mother's remnant soul in the fluid snorted and said: "I will give you ten years. After ten years, if you do not revive me, I will have my son bathe Yankang in blood!"
The stone coffin slammed shut with a bang, sealing the Supreme Emperor's corpse and the Primordial Chaos Origin Fluid inside. The great flower began to close.
"Wait!"
Qin Mu quickly said: "Earth Mother, my cultivation has not yet recovered. If I am killed by someone, would that not waste all your efforts? Please, Earth Mother, grant me a suitable weapon."
The great flower stopped closing. From within the stone coffin came Earth Mother's furious voice: "You are half-dead right now. Instead of hiding away to refine the Primordial Chaos Origin Fluid, are you planning to swagger around looking for death?"
Qin Mu said solemnly: "Now that I no longer have worries of death, I plan to go to the Heavenly Court to make a name for myself..."
Bang—
The stone coffin suddenly opened. From within, a head the size of a mountain range—the corpse of the Emperor—thrust out, opening its bloody maw to roar at Qin Mu. Qin Mu, Dragon Qilin, and Yan'er could not even fill the gaps between its teeth!
Qin Mu was blasted by the foul-smelling breath, his face wrinkled, unable to stand steady. The Yong River behind him exploded, nearly cut off!
After the corpse roared, its head shrank back, glaring at him viciously.
"You plan to go to the Heavenly Court?"
Earth Mother said in exasperation: "Why don't you just go die?"
Qin Mu's expression did not change, and he said: "I must go to the Heavenly Court. As Earth Mother said, I am the Ten-Thousand-Kalpa Indestructible Grand Mage. Although this trip to the Heavenly Court is dangerous, the ancient gods there will protect me. Combined with my identity as Heavenly Lord Mu, founding elder of the Heavenly Alliance, it will actually be safe. But open attacks are easy to avoid while hidden arrows are hard to defend against—I still do not have a suitable weapon. My sword pellet is only a spirit weapon, not a divine weapon..."
The imperial corpse withdrew back into the coffin. After a moment, the imperial corpse walked out again, holding a perfectly straight wooden staff, three zhang in length.
"Only this wooden staff?" Qin Mu showed a look of disappointment.
The imperial coffin slammed shut with a bang, and Earth Mother said coldly: "This is the core of the Primordial Tree, one of the most powerful divine weapons in the world. Take a good look at the annual rings!"
Qin Mu looked toward the top of the wooden staff, and saw that it had countless circles, extremely fine and dense. He was about to count them when the great flower closed, and the imperial coffin sank into the roots of the Primordial Tree. Then the roots that stretched across the Yong River rapidly retracted and vanished without a trace!
"Truly stingy, afraid I would ask for more treasures..."
Qin Mu shook his head and carefully counted the annual rings. After a long while, he still had not finished.
Dragon Qilin could not help but ask: "Sect Master, how many have you counted so far?"
"Five million rings, and I have not even counted one-tenth..."